The commission leading the Neuroscience Project

This page provides information about the commission leading the
Gatsby Foundation and Wellcome Trust Neuroscience Project.

Co-chair: Wendy Burn

Wendy Burn works full-time in a community post as a Consultant
Old Age Psychiatrist in Leeds in West Yorkshire. Her service is
responsible for many patients with dementia at all stages of the
illness as well as elderly people with a range of psychiatric
problems and she is a Clinical Lead for Dementia in the Yorkshire
Strategic Clinical Network.

She has held many roles in the organisation and delivery of
postgraduate training, including establishing the Yorkshire School
of Psychiatry of which she was the first Head. On behalf of the
Royal College of Psychiatrists she has been an Examiner, Regional
Coordinator for CPD and the Deputy Lead for National Recruitment.
She was Dean of the College from 2011 to 2016, and was elected
President of the College in 2017.

Co-chair: Professor Mike
Travis

Director of Residency Training, WPIC of UPMC, Pittsburgh and
Co-Director of the National Neuroscience Curriculum Initiative,
US

Dr Andrew Brittlebank

Andrew Brittlebank is Specialist Adviser for Curriculum for the
Royal College of Psychiatrists and Vice President for Training for
the European Board of Psychiatry. After training in Psychiatry, Dr
Brittlebank became a Clinical Lecturer at Newcastle University
before taking up a consultant post in a rural area of
Northumberland; he is currently Medical Director of Cumbria
Partnership NHS Foundation Trust.

He holds a Master’s degree in Management and Leadership and has
researched and published a number of original articles on
performance assessment, quality assurance and other medical
educational topics.

His research career initially centred on mathematical analysis
of neurophysiological time series. After moving to Cambridge as
Professor of Psychiatry in 1999, his interest in human brain
function and structure increasingly focused on complex brain
networks identified in MRI and other brain scanning data. His
recent methodological work has focused on graph theory to measure
aspects of brain network topology. He has been elected as a Fellow
of the Royal College of Physicians, the Royal College of
Psychiatrists, and the Academy of Medical Sciences.

Dr Sarah Caddick

Sarah Caddick is Neuroscience Adviser to Lord Sainsbury of
Turville and his charitable organisation, the Gatsby Charitable
Foundation.

She is a neuroscientist who has held leadership roles in
academia and private/public grant-making organisations where she
has been responsible for the development, oversight and
restructuring of strategic, programmatic, operational and
grant-making activities across a broad range of scientific
disciplines. She currently serves on a number of boards, including
the Global Council for Brain Research (World Economic Forum), the
Science Museum (London) and WiredDifferently.org. She is a former
guest curator and presenter for TEDGlobal and the Skoll World
Forum.

Professor Ian Curran

Ian Curran is the Assistant Director of Education and
Professional Standards at the General Medical Council, where he
leads policy development and quality assurance of UK postgraduate
medical education and training.

Previously, Professor Curran worked at Barts Healthcare NHS
Trust where he was a consultant anaesthetist with a special
interest in chronic pain management. He was Clinical Academic Group
Director of Education & Workforce at Barts, Senior Examiner for
Medical Finals at Barts School of Medicine and Dentistry and made
Professor of Innovation and Excellence in Healthcare Education at
Queen Mary University of London. He has also been a clinical
adviser to the Department of Health, NHS England and NHS Health
Education England. He is a Harvard Macy Scholar and visiting member
of faculty.

Professor Karl Deisseroth

D Chen Professor of Bioengineering and Psychiatry and
Behavioural Sciences, Stanford University, US

Professor Jacky Hayden

Jacky Hayden was Dean of Postgraduate Medical Studies Health
Education England, working across the North West, having led the
integration of the two former deaneries.

Her clinical background was in General Practice and she was the
first General Practitioner in England to be appointed to the
position of Postgraduate Dean. She was awarded the CBE in 2013 for
her services to medical education, received an honorary doctorate
of science (medicine) from St George’s Hospital Medical School
University of London in 2013 and was one of the HSJ’s Top Fifty
Inspirational Women in Health.

Professor Eileen Joyce

Eileen Joyce is a Professor of Neuropsychiatry at The Institute
of Neurology, University College London. Professor Joyce obtained
her first degree in experimental psychology and PhD in dopamine
psychopharmacology from the University of Cambridge, before
studying medicine. She trained in psychiatry at the Bethlem and
Maudsley Hospitals.

Eileen’s current research focuses on interventions for
neuropsychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, OCD and
Tourette’s syndrome and their mechanisms of action. Her clinic work
includes the management of complex neuropsychiatric disorders such
as conversion disorder, Parkinson’s disease and epilepsy. She is
Chair of the Faculty of Neuropsychiatry, Royal College of
Psychiatrists and sits on the MRC Clinical Training and Career
Development Panel.

Professor Jeffrey A Lieberman

Jeffrey A. Lieberman is Professor and Chair, Department of
Psychiatry at the Columbia University College of Physicians and
Surgeons, Director of the New York State Psychiatric Institute, and
Psychiatrist-in-Chief of the New York Presbyterian
Hospital-Columbia University Medical Centre.

His career has focused on research and clinical care of people
with severe mental illness including psychotic and mood disorders.
In 2000, he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences
Institute of Medicine. Professor Lieberman's work has extended into
public policy and advocacy for enhancing awareness of mental
illness and improving mental health care, as well as diminishing
stigma. He was President of the American Psychiatric Association in
2013-2014.

Professor Anne Lingford-Hughes

Anne Lingford-Hughes is Professor of Addiction Biology at
Imperial College London. She is also a Consultant Psychiatrist with
a particular interest in pharmacological treatments of alcohol
problems and comorbidity at Central North West London NHS
Foundation Trust.

Her research has focused on using PET and fMRI neuroimaging and
neuropharmacological challenges to characterise the neurobiology of
addiction, particularly alcoholism and opiate dependence though
more recently cocaine addiction and pathological gambling. Her
research aims to improve treatment for addiction by understanding
vulnerability to relapse and to optimise use of adjunctive
pharmacotherapy. Anne has contributed to NICE guidance and the
addiction guidelines from the British Association for
Psychopharmacology, and she is currently Chair of the Academic
Faculty of the Royal College of Psychiatrists.

Dr Mary-Ellen Lynall

Mary-Ellen Lynall is a trainee psychiatrist in the NHS East of
England deanery. She studied Natural Sciences (neuroscience) at the
University of Cambridge before commencing her medical studies at
the University of Oxford.

She continued her medical training as an Academic Neurosciences
Foundation doctor and is currently an Academic Clinical Fellow in
Psychiatry at the University of Cambridge. She teaches neuroscience
to undergraduates and is co-author of the textbook ‘Lecture Notes
in Psychiatry.’ Her research, supervised by Professor Ed Bullmore
and Dr Menna Clatworthy, focuses on the role of the immune system
in the link between psychological stress and psychiatric
disorders.

Professor David A Ross

Professor Ross has spent his entire career at Yale University,
receiving his MD and PhD degrees, then completing his residency in
2009, before becoming Associate Program Director – a role that he
has continued ever since.

He is Co-Founder and Co-Chair of the National Neuroscience
Curriculum Initiative, and his main area of academic interest is
the design of innovative educational resources, rooted in
principles of adult learning that can easily be disseminated to
remote sites. His numerous awards include the American Psychiatric
Association Irma Bland Award for Excellence in Teaching Residents,
the Association for Academic Psychiatry Early Career Development
Award, and he was an inaugural recipient of the Yale University
Rosenkranz Award for Pedagogical Innovation.

Professor Sir Simon Wessely

Simon Wessely has been a consultant liaison psychiatrist at
King’s College Hospital and the Maudsley Hospital since 1991 where
he is now Chair of Psychological Medicine at the Institute of
Psychiatry, Psychology and Neurosciences (IoPPN).

He established the first clinical trials unit in the UK
dedicated to mental health, set up the King’s Centre for Military
Health Research and acted as Civilian Consultant Advisor in
Psychiatry to the British Army visiting the armed forces in Bosnia,
Iraq and Afghanistan. His work has had a direct impact on public
policy and on forms of treatment and help for service personnel. He
was elected President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in
2014.